Most everyone out on the playground was trying to make the most out of the short five minutes they had. I was, as usual, silently observing their behavior from the sidelines. Rob was participating in a quick game of hide-and-seek and hid himself behind the wall I was leaning against. After exchanging meaningful glances with Charlie, I decided to join him.
‘Know anything about the books?’ I asked.
Not wanting to be found, he immediately shushed me. ‘Keep it down!’ And when he recognized me, ‘You? Whadya want?’ His voice showed his unwillingness to cooperate. I couldn’t blame him, after the mistake I made during the Felicia case.
‘I’m asking you clearly, do you have the missing books?’ A sternly asked, honest question.
‘Why would I want ’em, they aren’t even good.’ he scoffed.
They weren’t any good, huh? Even if that didn’t conflict with my personal opinion, it was still very suspicious. ‘So you read them?’
‘Yeah, I-‘ He stopped himself, exclaiming, ‘No way! Crimebusters is for nerds!’

Before I even finished formulating my next question, Reginald peeked behind the wall. ‘Hah!’
‘Snap!’ Rob got up as fast as he could, but he wasn’t even halfway there when Reginald had already made it to the tree, the “base”. ‘Found Rob!’
He walked back to me, his face and clenched fists speaking of his frustration. It was intimidating, but I didn’t want to run. ‘Thanks a lot, dweebface.’ he said before shoving me into the wall and returning to “base”.

It was only then that I noticed Trisha sitting on one of the benches by herself. When she noticed me noticing her, her head quickly turned down to the book she was reading. She didn’t blush, smile, or even look at me again, but I could tell she wasn’t really reading.
‘Hey Charlie. Should I… Should I question her as well?’ I was hesitant. Was there really any reason to question her? I didn’t want to offend her, and messing up would be a display so shameful it’d be hard to recover from.
‘Well,‘ he sighed. Was the answer really that obvious? ‘She is reading a crime novel. So yeah, go talk to her. Keep it casual.‘